歪唇男人 27拜访圣克莱尔夫人(7)

A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our disposal,

一间宽敞舒适的房子，放着两张床铺，供我们使用。

and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary after my night of adventure.

我很快就钻到被窝里去了，因为在这一夜的奔波之后已经精疲力尽了。

Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for days,

可是歇洛克·福尔摩斯却是这样一个人：当他心中有一个解决不了的问题时，他就会连续数天、

and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, rearranging his facts,

甚至一个星期，废寝忘食地反复思考，重新梳理掌握的各种情况，

looking at it from every point of view until he had either fathomed¹ it or convinced himself that his data were insufficient².

并从各个角度来审查那问题，一直要到水落石出，或是深信自己搜集的材料尚不充分时才肯罢休。

It was soon evident to me that he was now preparing for an all-night sitting.

我很快就知道：他正要准备通宵达旦地坐着。

He took off his coat and waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown,

他脱下了上衣和背心，穿上一件宽大的蓝色睡衣，

and then wandered about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from the sofa and armchairs.

随后就在屋子里到处乱找，把他床上的枕头以及沙发和扶手椅上的靠垫收拢到一起。

With these he constructed a sort of Eastern divan³, upon which he perched himself cross-legged,

他用这些东西铺成一个东方式的沙发，他盘腿坐在上面，

with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front of him.

面前放着一盎司强味的板烟丝和一盒火柴。

In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old briar pipe between his lips,

在那幽黯的灯光里，只见他端坐在那里，嘴里叼着一只欧石南根雕成的旧烟斗，

his eyes fixed⁴ vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling,

两眼茫然地凝视着天花板一角，

the blue smoke curling up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set aquiline⁵ features.

蓝色的烟雾从他嘴边盘旋缭绕，冉冉上升，他寂静无声，纹丝不动，灯光闪耀，正照着他那山鹰般的坚定面容。

So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up,

我渐入梦乡，他就这样坐着，有时我大叫一声从梦中惊醒，他还是这样坐着，

and I found the summer sun shining into the apartment.

最后，我睁开双眼，夏日的煦阳正照进房来。

The pipe was still between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was full of a dense⁶ tobacco haze⁷,

那烟斗依然在他的嘴里叼着，轻烟仍然缭绕盘旋，冉冉上升，浓重的烟雾弥漫满屋，

but nothing remained of the heap of shag which I had seen upon the previous night.

前夜所看到的一堆板烟丝，这时已经荡然无存了。

1 fathomed   

理解…的真意( fathom的过去式和过去分词 )； 彻底了解； 弄清真相

参考例句：

• I have not yet quite fathomed her meaning. 我当时还没有完全揣摸出她是什么意思。
• Have you fathomed out how to work the video yet? 你弄清楚如何操作录像机了吗？

2 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

3 divan   

n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集

参考例句：

• Lord Henry stretched himself out on the divan and laughed.亨利勋爵伸手摊脚地躺在沙发椅上，笑着。
• She noticed that Muffat was sitting resignedly on a narrow divan-bed.她看见莫法正垂头丧气地坐在一张不宽的坐床上。

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 aquiline   

adj.钩状的，鹰的

参考例句：

• He had a thin aquiline nose and deep-set brown eyes.他长着窄长的鹰钩鼻和深陷的褐色眼睛。
• The man has a strong and aquiline nose.该名男子有强大和鹰鼻子。

6 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

7 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。